Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal is stepping down in wake of hack

LOS ANGELES — Sony Pictures Entertainment announced on Thursday that Amy Pascal, longtime studio co-chairman who was one of many executives to have embarrassing emails leaked in the massive hack in November, is stepping down.

In what's become a cliché in the script of an ousted Hollywood studio executives, Pascal will launch a production venture at the studio, keeping her deep industry relationships and moviemaking experience in-house. She'll transition into her new role in May, according to the studio's release.

The hack has been linked to North Korea over the movie The Interview, a film that Pascal had greenlit.

Pascal's departure from the Sony corner office was something of a foregone conclusion after the fiasco that devastated the studio and exposed highly personal information of hundreds of its more than 6,000 employees. But rumors that Pascal was on thin ice persisted in Hollywood for many months before the cyberattack, after a string of high-profile box office failures, in particular the critically and commercially underwhelming The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

But it looked like curtains for Pascal when, at the height of the hack attacks, an email exchange between her and producer Scott Rudin was leaked that contained racially charged comments about President Obama. Talking about a presidential fundraising event, the two bantered back and forth about which films Obama might like, suggesting 12 Years a Slave and Django Unchained, among others.

The night after those reports, Pascal appeared at the Los Angeles premiere of The Interview, smiling and surrounded by friends and studio suits. She endured for nearly three months afterward — but that's little surprise, as it would've been a terrible time for Sony to switch horses, in the midst of an internal affairs crisis as they were.

Michael Lynton remains co-chair of SPE, and he may do so indefinitely, despite that his handling of the crisis has been blasted from Hollywood to the White House. In the past 18 months the studio brought on Tom Rothman, former chair of 20th Century Fox, to produce movies via its revived TriStar banner; and super-producer Michael De Luca, who was named co-president of production.

Both were viewed as possible side-door candidates to take the top job if Pascal were ousted — long before the Guardians of Peace started plaguing the studio with hack attacks. We'll soon find out whether those whispers carried any truth.

But post-hack, there was no doubt that Pascal had to go, once the dust cleared and the damage was assessed. Her years at the studio will be rewarded with a robust production deal that will keep her doing what she's best at, while clearing up many of the headaches of studio life.

Read Sony's entire release below:

SPE ANNOUNCED TODAY THAT AMY PASCAL, CO-CHAIRMAN OF SPE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE MOTION PICTURE GROUP, WILL LAUNCH A MAJOR NEW PRODUCTION VENTURE AT THE STUDIO

TRANSITION TO NEW VENTURE IN MAY 2015

[Culver City, CA – February 5, 2015] Sony Pictures Entertainment today announced that Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of SPE and Chairman of the Motion Picture Group, will launch a major new production venture at the studio. Pascal will transition to the new venture in May 2015.

Ms. Pascal who joined Columbia Pictures in 1988, said that after several decades as a senior executive at Sony Pictures, she had decided to launch her own company that would focus on movies, television and theater. Details of Ms. Pascal’s film venture will be announced shortly.

“I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home,” said Pascal. “I have always wanted to be a producer. Michael and I have been talking about this transition for quite some time and I am grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to pursue my long-held dream and for providing unparalleled support. As the slate for the next 2 years has come together, it felt like the right time to transition into this new role. I am so grateful to my team, some of whom I have worked with for the last 20 years and others who have joined more recently. I am leaving the studio in great hands. I am so proud of what we have all done together and I look forward to a whole lot more.”

As part of a four-year agreement, SPE will finance Ms. Pascal’s venture and retain all distribution rights worldwide to films financed. The venture will be located at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City.

“Amy’s creativity, drive, and bold choices helped define SPE as a studio where talented individuals could take chances and push boundaries in order to deliver outstanding entertainment,” said Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment. “The studio’s legacy is due in large part to Amy’s passion for storytelling and love of this industry. I am delighted that Amy will be continuing her association with SPE through this new venture, which capitalizes on her extraordinary talents. In recent months, SPE faced some unprecedented challenges, and I am grateful for Amy’s resilience and grace during this period. Amy has been a great partner to me in heading the studio and I am looking forward to a continued close working relationship with her in her new role on the lot.

“Amy has had a truly extraordinary career,” said Kazuo Hirai, President and CEO of Sony Corporation. “In her years at Sony Pictures, Amy worked with some of the best talent in the film industry to create many of our studio’s most beloved and successful films. I want to thank her for her years of dedication and I am pleased that she will continue to work closely with SPE in her new venture.”

Since Pascal has led the studio, SPE has amassed over $46 billion in global theatrical box office, 315 academy award nominations, 212 golden globe nominations and 115 number one openings.

Some of the movies under Pascal’s stewardship include:

Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, The Da Vinci Code, the Spider-man film series, Men in Black, To Die For, Ali, Charlie’s Angels, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Hancock, Michael Jackson’s This Is it, Awakenings, A League of Their Own, Hitch, Stuart Little, Girl Interrupted, Adaptation, 2012, Bad Teacher, Easy A, Superbad, District 9, Zombieland, Pursuit of Happyness, This is the End, Pineapple Express, Stepbrothers, Talladega Nights, 21 Jump Street, Salt, Closer, Something’s Gotta Give, Eat Pray Love, 50 First Dates, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Equalizer, Fury, Big Fish, A Knight’s Tale, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Ides of March, Karate Kid, Big Daddy, The Remains of the Day, Little Women, Sense and Sensibility, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Captain Phillips, Moneyball, American Hustle, Zero Dark Thirty, Groundhog Day, The Social Network and The Interview.

Ms. Pascal got her first job by answering an ad in the Hollywood Reporter. She worked as a secretary answering phones for the legendary BBC producer Tony Garnett.

Ms. Pascal is the first woman since Mary Pickford to serve as a Governor of the Executive Branch at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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